So the new Rush record is due to come out on May 29th or so. I’m excited. Obviously.

A few months ago I started a goofy Google Music projectoid. I wanted to take all of the billion or so Rush bootlegs I have found on the ‘net and rip mp3 copies of everything and then upload them all to a free Google Music account and make a series of playlists each containing every show I have for each tour.

I uploaded everything I had already ripped for iPod use and then started catching up one tour at a time. I ran out of steam after finishing the 1979 Semispheres tour.

I have been inspired to pick it up again, and tonight I finished the 1980 Permanent Waves tour.

Why oh why are there so few good audience boots from this tour when there are so many good ones from ’78-79 and from ’81? It’s such a puzzle to me.

I’m listening to the 5/13/80 show from Hershey, PA. It sounds like drool, but the performance is stellar.

I can’t wait for the new album.

So we are going to San Diego next month. A couple of months ago we booked our flight. It was a UA flight from Boston to Los Angeles with a puddle jumping connection to San Diego.

Note how I said, “was”.

UA saw fit to cancel our connection and rebook us with a connection in Newark with a whopping 30 minutes in between landing and take off.

Oh, and none of our seats are together. I guess the flight attendants will have to deal with the vomit-prone nine year old because the airline thought it would be best to separate him from his family.

Oh, and they didn’t see fit to tell us that they canceled our flight and moved us to a totally unacceptable replacement.

My wonderful, beautiful wife spent some quality time on the phone with a UA representative today, and I think things will be worked out, but still… Thanks for the kick in the nuts, right?

I feel a little scummy posting a commercial here, but the idea of an invisible car is too cool to ignore.

Now if they can just do something about the whole humans-see-in-three-dimensions thing so that the inviso-car does not pop out from the background.

Oh yeah, I guess they have some work to do.

Did you enjoy today? Today is one of my favorite days of the year. Today was the first day of Spring. Today officially marks the day when the world starts coming back to life. The weather starts to improve. Attitudes start to improve. Things just start getting better.

Today is that good day. It is the opposite of the first day of Fall. It all gets better now, at least for about six months or so.

Just saying, I hope you enjoyed it.

When I left work tonight I was feeling daring and adventurous. I took off my coat, turned on a Rush bootleg (from the Hemisphere’s Tour) and turned right instead of left.

The right turn took me away from my back roads route home and took me toward the all-highway route home.

The result? I was in the house at 6:30. 15-20 minutes earlier than normal. Awesome.

I bet if I do the same tomorrow I’ll get home at 7:15.

New album coming in late May? Possibly a new single in late March? How about a tour starting in the fall?

I’m ready for it when ever they are.

Oh it’s amazing how a visit from the Maple Leafs can cheer us up.  We, the unhealthily obsessed Bruins fans, have been lining up to jump off the Tobin Bridge for a couple of weeks now.  A good win against Philly on Saturday calmed us down a little, and then the Leafs came to town.

Final score, Boston 8 – Toronto 0.  It was, in a word, glorious.  It was like the November Bruins coming back to remind us of how awesome they can be.  There are 10 games left.  We have a three point lead over Ottawa in the Northeast division.  We have a four point lead over Florida in the Eastern conference standings.  If they keep playing the way they played the last two games we should be able to hold onto second place in the East, and maybe… just maybe… we’ll have a little momentum going into the playoffs.  I’ve been spoiled by all the playoff advancing we’ve done over the last few years.  I don’t want to be eliminated in the first round this season (or ever again).

Go Bruins!

Finally, I can write about this.

10 years ago my cousin Tom put together a vacation for much of our extended family.  His mother and my mother are sisters, and both of their families spent a week in a house on a lake in Vermont.  We had a great time and have been wanting to do something similar ever since.

My mother dropped a hint a few months ago that she wanted to do something like that this year.  My brother took the point and after a few days of back and forth between the three siblings and their spouses, we settled on a place in Maine and booked it.  That was a week ago.  We were all getting together at my sister’s for our annual St Patrick’s Day dinner yesterday so we decided to spring the surprise then.

That meant that I had a vacation to be excited about and couldn’t blab about it here for a whole week!  Torture!

It will be my parents, me and my wife and two step kids, my sister and her husband and their two kids, and my brother and his wife and their two kids.  One full week in a huge house on a huge lake in the middle of nowhere in Western Maine.  That sounds pretty much like heaven to me.  I can’t wait.  Everyone is very excited.  My not-quite four year old nephew even had a song to sing about it, but he got shy and decided to hop in place instead.  It was pretty cute. 

We have one thing to take care of before we can start concentrating on Maine though.  Me and my wife and step kids and my wife’s mother and step father are all going to San Diego for a week. 

Oh yeah, did I mention?  Two monster vacations for us this year?  We are spoiled rotten and I Love It!

Spring in Southern California.  Summer in Western Maine.  Yeah, I’ll take that.  We have to start planning ideas for San Diego.  The Zoo is obvious.  The beaches are just as obvious.  Should we go to a Padres game?  You won’t get any argument from me.  I would love to see the seals in La Jolla.  Wild animals are cool, don’t you know.  There are 100 different museums in Balboa Park and so far, in three trips since our wedding two years ago, we’ve made it to one.

So much to plan!  So much to do! 

Two vacations and I can’t wait for either of them!

I can’t wait!!!

Yesterday was a top notch St Patrick’s Day. Really, it was a great day regardless of the Irish celebration, it was a great day for any day.

We had a very busy day planned. I was going to start cleaning out the garage while Jen made a fantastic corned beef dinner. I had expected the garage job to require the full weekend, but somehow, despite the overwhelming appearance, I managed to get everything on the to do list done by the start of the second period of yesterday afternoon’s Bruins game.

I had enough time to help Jen cut up the veggies and we had a solid A+ Irish dinner at around 5:00. After that we went to Larry and Nawal’s and just hung out shooting the breeze and getting caught up until almost 11:00. I had a lot of fun.

Today we slept in. Did we ever sleep in! We woke up after 10:00am! Glorious! Best Sunday Ever!

This evening we will go to my sister’s house for another wonderful Irish dinner, and we will get to see the nephews and the niece. I’m looking forward to it.

The only thing separating this weekend from complete perfection is that it is not a kids weekend. Other than that, this weekend has been as good as weekends get.

Next weekend is a kids weekend so it will be even better!

Bruins fans, enjoy it while it lasts. You see what good things happen when you win games?